Not bad! Metin Okur with a bluefin tuna taken off Portland.

Bellarine peninsula

With an improvement in the weather over the weekend, Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that clients venturing out to the edge of the Prince George Bank returned with good catches of flathead, the best of these measuring over 40 cm.

Squid have also remain a strong presence said Rod, with both species being more cooperative toward the top of the tide. However, whiting have been scarce with most of the good catches coming in from St Leonards and further south.

In a repeat performance of the previous weekend, Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley launched at St Leonards and headed down south to the west sand between the Coles and West channels out from Edwards Point.

Catching the first of the flood tide at around 2.00 pm, they were soon into the whiting as the current picked up, each taking a bag limit catch of fish to 40 cm by 4.00 pm using pipis and cuttlefish for bait.

Heading out to the Symonds Channel near Mud Island on Saturday evening to catch the last of the flood tide, Tom Robinson and Keith Berry were well prepared for the task with baits of freshwater eel to withstand the numerous bait thieves usually present out here.

They were hopeful of catching a good size gummy shark, and eventually managed to bring one of around 15 kg alongside at around 7.00, pm, but not before hooking several other heavyweights that clearly were not the species they were after.

Freshwater

Taking a run out to Wurdi Boluc Reservoir on Friday evening, Trevor Holmes and Steve Nichols put in a solid session casting lures from the bank.

Not in vain either for their catch included two good size redfin of 1.6 and 1.7 kg respectively. The successful lures were a Strike Pro Bob’n spoon and a Pegron Tiger.

On Saturday morning, Simon Werner and son Jayden 15, also headed out to Wurdi where they also got into the redfin; Jayden taking the biggest which would have been around 1.5 kg.

The pair have also spent a quite a bit of time on the Barwon estuary of late, where – fishing the run-off tide in the mouth with live salmon for bait in the evening – they’ve been surprised by some good size barracouta.

Nice shot: Bob McPherson took this photo of a leaping tuna alongside his boat.

Stoked: Glenn Powles and Joe Gulino with a 30 kg bluefin tuna taken offshore from Portland over the weekend (Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

With reasonable weather on Saturday, Bob McPherson, Joe Gulino, Glenn Powles and John Anderson headed out into 350 metres of water where they encountered bluefin tuna to 30 kg or so along with a good many others.

Bob mentions that, although the larger tuna seem to be out wide, the most productive area for small bluefin is in around 70 metres of water off Cape Bridgewater, and that is the safest bet for light tackle enthusiasts looking for a bit of sport.

Fishing on the bottom in this same area over the weekend, Jack Oliver and his companions caught any amount of slimy mackerel to 700 grams or so which proved to be excellent bait for the good size gummy shark and flathead that they caught on the drift.

Fishing at Lake Toolondo near Horsham on Sunday were Ray and Carl Doolan of Highton whose effort revolved around trolling Tassie Devils in various patterns: Their catch consisted of two Rainbow Trout and seven browns with their three largest fish all weighing in at 1.5 kg.

Ray reports that the crushed rock boat ramp on the north side of the lake is currently suitable for boats to 5 metres or so while good bank access gives land-based anglers in all categories of a good chance at taking fish.

Rally

With growing concern over the escalation of commercial fish harvesting operations on Corio Bay, and the impropriety of the methodologies employed in these operations, the Friends Of Corio Bay Action Group are to hold a public rally in protest on Sunday June 2nd next.

Participants are to assemble opposite Trades Hall, which is at 27 Myers Street, Geelong, at 10 am preparatory to marching down Moorabool Street to the Geelong Waterfront.

Jerry asks:

Standard trolling speed is 8 knots (15 kilometers per hour) with skirted lures, or – when using sub surface lures – the correct speed is determined by the speed at which the lures impart maximum action to the rod tip.

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Full house: Chris Hateley and Jeff Richards with a sample of their bag limit catch of whiting.

Gummy guru: Daniel Neal with his 28 kg gummy shark from the Symonds Channel.

Bellarine peninsula

On Saturday afternoon, Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley launched at St Leonards in benign condition and headed down south to the west sand between the Coles and West channels.

Catching the last of the flood tide, they were soon onto a good patch of whiting. A freshening nor’easter proved challenging, but with bag limit catches a certainty they persisted, paying the price with a difficult retrieve at the boat ramp.

Early Friday morning, Daniel Neal and Jason Andrew fished Symonds Channel off Queenscliff where their offerings of mullet and squid were taken by seven gillers, bronze whalers and various other pesky sharks that destroyed their leaders and depleted their bait supply.

Raising the anchor they headed for The Rip where they replenished their bait supply with a good catch of Australian salmon before returning to the Symonds for the late afternoon high tide change: A good move as it turned out for Daniel hooked a behemoth of a gummy shark that eventually tipped the scales at 28 kg.

On Friday morning, Murray Scott and son Darcy headed down to Queenscliff where they caught Australian salmon and squid for bait before heading out into The Rip hopeful of catching a kingfish.

By the time they reached The Rip the ebb tide was down to a trickle and it wasn’t long before the live salmon they put out was taken by a kingfish of about 4 kg, but that was all they caught despite persisting for another three hours or so on the flood tide.

Great catch: Aisha Burns 9, with her Murray Cod.

Freshwater

Justin Burns, along with wife Katryna, daughter Aisha 9, and son Jai 7, spent three days at Lake Mulwala near Yarrawonga last week.

The fishing was slow, but they did catch, and release, half a dozen Murray cod and a couple of golden perch over the first couple of days with Aisha taking the honours with a cod that would have been well in excess of 10 kg.

The cod was no gift either, for the young lady selected the lure, a Jackall Doozer, casting and retrieving it – albeit with the spool tension up a touch to avoid over-runs – for a day and a half before getting a strike on the big fish which she managed to bring alongside unaided.

Western District

On Friday evening, Pat Bridgeman, Scott Hurlstone, and Steven Wood fished Logan’s Beach at Warrnambool where they opened their account with three skates on the fresh squid they were using for bait. However, things were destined to improve with the capture of a 50 cm Australian salmon just after dark.

Filleting the salmon for bait proved a good move and resulted in the capture of a 20 kg school shark followed by a 1.2 metre seven-gilled shark, so there was plenty of flake to go around.

Justin Brown, Rick Ziarkowski and John Bennett with their 114 kg bluefin tuna.

Alby blowed: John Haber of Haines Hunter with a good size albacore taken offshore from Portland.

Portland

Bob McPherson reports that there are bluefin tuna as close in as 70 metres of water with most of the action down toward Cape Bridgewater.

While most of the fish down this way are a on the small side, catching them is a sure bet and that’s where most crews are headed, charter boats included.

However, there are still albacore and larger tuna to be caught out wide for those prepared to make the two hour run to the edge of the Continental shelf.

Among those to do so last week were Justin Brown, Rick Ziarkowski and John Bennett who were rewarded for their efforts with a 114 kg bluefin tuna that took them three hours to bring alongside on 15 kg tackle.

Rodney asks:

I would suggest anchoring up anywhere along the edges of either the Corio or the old City Channel is probably the best advice I can give you to get started.

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Birthday catch: Wayne Harris with is 3.75 kg brown trout (Photo Lake Purrumbete Caravan Park).

Easy come: Jacob Donaldson with a Murray cod from the Goulburn River which he released.

Freshwater

Among those to take advantage of Lake Purrumbete’s magnificent brown trout fishery last week were Wayne Harris of South Morang and his brother Bernie who were trolling Lofty cobra pattern lures down-rigged to 16 metres when they had a double strike.

Bernie was first to boat his fish, a brown trout of 1.7 kg. Wayne took a little longer to boat his, but at 3.75 kg it was a prize worth waiting for, especially since it was his 40th birthday.

Taking part in a Western District fox shoot, nearby Lake T oolondo proved tempting for Trevor Holmes and Brad Andrews who had also packed their fishing gear. After skinning their foxes they changed pace and caught both brown and rainbow trout to 1.8 kg or so from the bank on lures.

Fishing the Goulburn River near Murchison last week, Jacob Donaldson added to his tally of fish caught and released when he grassed a cod of about 55 cm that took a yabby placed in close proximity to a likely looking snag. The cod was followed by a golden perch of just on 2 kg that was similarly tempted from the undercut bank.

Easy go: Jacob Donaldson with a golden perch from the Goulburn River which he released.

Jaws: John Goleby with a 3 metre bull shark which he caught and released from Moreton Island last Wednesday.

Bellarine peninsula

Whiting have been a little hard to find of late but last Thursday, Jeff Richards and Ken Shae found them south of St Leonards near the wreck of the Clarence, and from 3.00 pm till 5.30, caught 24 beautiful fish to 42 cm using pipis and cuttlefish for bait.

Jeff returned again on Saturday afternoon for more of the same, this time with Chris Hateley, but all they caught before the tide began flooding was one squid. However, as the flood tide picked up the whiting came on the bite and by 6.00 pm they had both bagged out.

Early Sunday morning, Daniel Stranger of Geelong Charters also found a good patch of whiting for his clients south of St Leonards and they took forty or so before the flood tide slackened and they went off the bite.

Expecting much the same action on the ebb, they persisted – moving from one spot to another in the hope of picking up where they’d left off – but after a while it became clear the bite had shut down for the day.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that clients had had no trouble catching squid over the weekend with some good ones among them, but Rod said whiting remain scarce on his patch.

Corio Bay

Fishing off Avalon on Sunday evening, Murray Scott was off to a good start boating six whiting in quick succession. He would have caught more, but a shoal of juvenile Australian salmon moved in and took every bait he cast out within a few seconds of hitting the water.

Albacore armful: Norman Ratajczak with a sample from of his bag limit catch of albacore.

Crowded house: Norman Ratajczak with his and other clients mixed bags of albacore, bluefin and striped tuna.

Portland

Down Portland way Bob McPherson reports that albacore have turned up in force along the edge of the Continental shelf with literally tonnes of them coming to the cleaning tables over the weekend along with striped tuna and southern bluefin.

Among those to do well out here over the weekend was Norman Ratajczak aboard Ocean Grove Charters. Norman said it was a pretty rough two hour journey out to the shelf with a four metre swell running, but once out there, and with the lures being hit time and time again with little respite, the swell became of little concern.

Paul asks:

However, should the volume of fresh water coming down the river increase, as would be the case after heavy rain, then low slack water would be later still.

PS: Submit Your Weekly Fishing Photo’s From Your Smart Phone or Computer Directly to me via Facebook message for a chance to be featured in next week’s report.Click on the link http://www.facebook.com/geoffwilsonfishing

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Some fish: David Hall with the 125 kg bluefin tuna he caught off Portland (Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

Fishing with Joe Branca aboard Off the Hook Fishing Charters offshore from Portland last week were David and Peter Hall. They’d come all the way from Harrietville near Bright dead keen on hooking one of the big bluefin tuna Portland has been producing of late.

Trolling skirted lures rigged on 37 kg tackle in 1000 metres of water along the edge of the Continental shelf, David hooked a bluefin tuna that was eventually bought to the scales for a verdict of 125 kg.

Bob McPherson of Portland reports that the weather has been a stumbling block of late and this has kept the smaller craft from venturing too far out. Never the less, some have still returned with tuna from as close in as 60 metres of water.

Stoked: Mark McCormack with his Jan Juc gummy shark.

Surf

Early last week, Mark McCormack and Finn Barry fished Jan Juc beach on the rising tide from 5.30 pm or so taking a couple of Australian salmon on surf poppers.

Come nightfall, the salmon were filleted and the fillets cut into strip baits in the hope of catching a larger fish. However, with nothing doing for some time, Mark decided he’d had enough and began to pack up when Finn had a really good bite without hooking up.

Encouraged, Mark baited up once more, cast out, and within five minutes or so had hooked a good fish that turned out to be a gummy shark measuring 1.3 metres in length.

Bellarine Peninsula

On the Bellarine Peninsula rough weather has kept a good many anglers ashore over the preceding week with only a handful braving the elements.

Among those to be successful were Jake Johnson and Ben Murray who fished at the first starboard marker of the Coles Channel almost directly out from the St Leonards ramp where they caught 30 whiting to 39 cm along with 4 good size flathead.

Corio Bay

After his successful trip on the whiting the previous week, Scott Smith, along with his brother Dean and father Barry, headed back out to the formerly productive patch of rough ground in Stingaree Bay hoping for more of the same.

On this occasion though, the trio only managed a dozen or fish between them in fairly ordinary conditions.

Freshwater

Last week, Trevor Holmes, Jason Kennedy of “Stop the bus” fame, and Jason’s father Arthur, headed up to Lake Toolondo near Horsham where they put in a solid couple of days trolling Strike Pro lures.

Not in vain as it turned out, for they caught 26 trout, both browns and rainbows, ranging in size from one to 2 kg. They also bagged a redfin or two, but it was clear that trout were the main chance.

Simon Werner and son Jayden fished Wurdi Boluc reservoir on Saturday morning where they found redfin more than willing to take their soft plastic offerings. The biggest of the five fish they caught that were over a kilogram was a beauty that Jayden caught that tipped the scales at 1.77 kg.

On Saturday, Brad Andrews and Clint Hotchin braved the elements at Lake Tooliorook where they encountered a large number of duck shooters that had travelled some distance to bag a few birds, and judging by the almost non-stop powder burning exercise there were no shortage of targets.

Brad and Clint caught four rainbow trout from 1.5 to 2 kg from the lake over a period of several hours. However, that was not the end of their bounty, for on the walk back to their car they picked up four freshly killed wild ducks as well.

Gwennie asks:

While the classic approach is to fish green seaweed beneath a float, I have found that a sandworm fished just above the bottom a size 4 hook will get the job done provided you can put up with toadies and other nuisance fish.
A high tide beginning to run off in the late afternoon or evening is best.

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Sashimi anyone? James Thackeray with his 105 kg bluefin tuna. (Photo Bob McPherson).

Corio Bay

On Sunday afternoon, David Richards, his friend Scott Smith, David’s son Willy 15, and Scott’s daughters Rosie and Lilly, also teenagers, launched at Limeburners boat ramp and anchored up on Stingaree Bay in the shelter of Point Henry.

At first there wasn’t much doing, but toward evening, whiting came on the bite and it soon became clear that the best strategy was for David and Scott to move to a coaching role, baiting the kid’s lines and unhooking the fish of which they finished with 60 altogether, the biggest measuring 38 cm.

Freshwater

Brad Andrews and his father Steve, made the journey to Lake Tooliorook on Friday where they braved less than clement conditions from the bank for a catch of three rainbow trout from 700 grams to 1.2 kg. All were taken on Berkley Powerbait.

On Sunday, Justin Burns and son Jai 7, fished the Barwon River at Highton where things were slow until Justin hooked what was certainly a very big carp that took around a hundred metres of his 2 kg line before hanging him up on a snag on the other side of the river.

They kept on fishing though and eventually Justin hooked a carp of a more manageable size that he estimated at 5 kg. Baits used were corn kernels and bread.

Gus Scalzo with a 30 kg plus bluefin tuna from Portland ([Photo Bob McPherson).

Estuary

Daniel Abbott reports that eleven members of the Werribee and District Anglers Club fished a weekend competition on the Werribee River that produced a total of 87 bream.

The biggest bream weighed 830 grams and was taken by Gary Warren whose six year old daughter Charli also gained glory in the junior section with the heaviest bag. Jake Bice 8, who was fishing with his father Jeff, also took a creditable catch of bream in the junior category.

Daniel said that small freshwater yabbies were far and away the most productive bait followed by local tubeworm, sandworm and soft shelled clams (squirters).

Last week, Justin Burns, wife Katryna, daughter Aisha 9 and son Jai 7, made the journey to The Curdies River near Peterborough where Justin tried his skill on the local bream population using lures.

Actually it was one lure that did the all of the damage, a tiny 2 gram Smith Jade that eventually tempted a strike from an unstoppable fish that just kept taking line until it cut him off on a snag; so that was the end of that.

Never the less, Justin had already caught and released ten bream to 700 grams or so that were finessed from the undercut banks, so he had a reasonable return on his investment before his loss.

Last week Simon Werner tried his luck on the Barwon estuary, anchoring up just inside the mouth as the tide began to run out. His first catch was a small but legal size Australian salmon which he put on for bait in case there was a stray mulloway about.

He had no luck there, but he did catch a 3 kg snook which was something of a surprise.

John Haber and Dave Camilleri with a sample of their tuna catch off Portland ([Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

On Saturday, Bob McPherson headed offshore along with James Thackeray of Black Pete Tackle, Bruce Wallace of Rapala VMC, and Darren Peak, hoping to pick up one of the large bluefin tuna that have been about lately.

With the lures out in 1000 metres of water near the area known as the horseshoe, it was James in the hot seat when one of the rods went off; heralding a tough battle with a bluefin tuna that eventually greeted the scales for a verdict of 105 kg.

Paul asks:

As for tackle, my best advice is to go to a dedicated fishing tackle store in your area and see what they have for the price you are prepared to pay.

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Big barrel: Andrew Saliba, Angelo Micallef and Warren Micallef with their 140 kg bluefin (Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

Down Portland way Bob McPherson reports that bluefin tuna and albacore remain a strong presence offshore and there’ve been some good ones among them.

Last week, Andrew Saliba, Angelo Micallef and Warren Micallef raised the bar with a 140 kg bluefin tuna that they caught in the area known as the horseshoe, and considering they were trolling 35 cm marlin lures on 37 kg tackle, they certainly had big fish in mind

The same area has been productive for albacore as well, said Bob, with smaller skirted lures getting the job done on those.

Royal catch: Mitch McGuire with his 13 kg kingfish from Port Phillip Heads (Photo Josh Rushton).

Bellarine Peninsula

Yellowtail kingfish have been an item at Port Phillip Heads, and among those to be successful lately were Mitch McGuire and Josh Rushton whose catch included a beauty of 13 kg last week that took a freshly caught squid.

Last Wednesday, Adrian Cole, Mark Sesar and Sam Breenen headed out from St Leonards where they found a good patch of whiting from which they each took bag limit catches.

With their catch on ice, they made their way to the entrance of Swan Bay where they took 23 garfish, and later, down off Queenscliff, they rounded out the day catching several squid on multi-coloured jigs.

Brad Andrews has also caught whiting on several occasions from the St Leonards area. On Thursday he and Joey Pilgrim picked up 17 good specimens, and on Friday managed a repeat performance with Mark Fowkes. Nor did it end there for on Sunday he and Bianca Messinger made it a hat trick on whiting along with a half dozen good size squid as well.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid are currently the main chance in that part of the world with these tasty cephalopods to be found on almost any patch of reef of sea-grass.

Flathead have also been resurgent along the edge of the Prince George Bank where bottom bouncing on the drift has been the most effective approach.

Nice sample: Adrian Cole and Mark Sesar with part of last Wednesday’s catch.

Corio Bay

On Friday, Roy and Andrew Phillips, along with Andrew’s eight year old nephew Cooper, fished the heavy ground in 5.5 metres of water off the Mountain View Quarries on the Corio Bay outer harbour.

At first there wasn’t much doing, but they berleyed heavily and eventually they caught a mixed bag of flathead, including some of the blue-spotted variety to 40 cm or so along with any number of legal size Australian salmon and a half dozen whiting.

Andrew also put out a snapper rod baited with a silver whiting and caught a 4.5 kg gummy shark. A repeat presentation, this time with a squid head for bait, resulted in the reel overheating as the line poured off to the tune of what probably was a shark because the 20 kg trace was bitten through.

Freshwater

Fishing the south east corner of Wurdi Boluc reservoir on Sunday evening, Trevor Holmes and his Strike Pro Bob’n spoon were working overtime to keep up with an onslaught of redfin. Most were on the small side said Trevor, but he did catch some good ones, the two biggest of which were well over a kilogram.

Last week Rudi Holzfeind and Eric Box of the Geelong and District Angler’s Club fished Lake Bolac on the Glenelg Highway between Skipton and Dunkeld where they caught ten rainbow trout from 500 grams to 1.26 kg using local smelt from the lake for bait.

On Sunday, twelve members of the Geelong Anglers Club fished Lake Tooliorook near Lismore for the joint Wanders Cup and monthly day competition.

Winner of both events was Rudi Holzfeind with two brown trout of 1.82 and 1.88 kg that took trolled lures; not the easiest of exercises at present with low water levels and weed choking much of the lake. Twelve year old Thomas Coleman took out the junior section with a rainbow trout of 1.08 kg.

Western District

Doug Lucas reports that last Tuesday afternoon, Peter Mackie fished Clifton Beach for ten Australian salmon, the biggest of which weighed 2.3 kg; the others were around the 900 gram mark and all were taken on cut pilchards.

On Thursday Doug’s friend Bob Thompson visited the Aire River at Horden Vale which is currently open to the sea, and fishing downstream from the bridge, took eight bream to 37 cm and any amount of large yellow-eye mullet.

Fishing Lake Purrumbete was Andrew McNamara who caught several brown trout from 1.2 to 2.8 kg trolling a Rapala bibbed minnow in the spotted dog pattern down-rigged to 12 metres.

Robbo asks:

Geoff , where would be the best place to catch a decent snapper at the moment?

Another option would be to fish on the deep mud out wide from the Prince George Bank, another area which has been productive of late.

PS: Submit Your Weekly Fishing Photo’s From Your Smart Phone or Computer Directly to me via Facebook message for a chance to be featured in next week’s report.Click on the link http://www.facebook.com/geoffwilsonfishing

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Gummy guru: Eight year old Cooper Robinson with his gummy shark.

Big red: Stephen Goodfellow with his 10 kg snapper From Portarlington.

Corio Bay

Fishing in eight metres of water off Clifton Springs last week was James Robinson and his eight year old son Cooper. Flathead were on the bite, and they caught several of the southern blue spotted variety to 52 cm. However, Cooper took their catch of the day, a gummy shark of about 5.5 kg.

Fishing within shouting distance was James’ friend Trevor Cefai and his 13 year old son Dylan from Lara whose catch included a 5.5 kg snapper.

Big bluefin: Alex Saisanas, Alex Matic and Mario Quadara with their 131 kg tuna.

Sweet success: Andrew Donegan with another good one taken out wide from Portland at the weekend (Photo Bob McPherson).

Barwon estuary

Jake Hoskin and his dad Aaron tried their luck on the Barwon estuary last week hoping to catch some whiting which were scarce. A change to lures produced several Australian salmon, including one of 40 cm, but the real surprise was a catch of fifteen flathead, the biggest measuring 42 cm.

Bellarine Peninsula

On Easter Sunday Stephen Goodfellow and his father in law Russell Cooke headed out off Portarlington and by 3.00 pm they were anchored up in 11 metres of water soaking a few pilchards.

The fishing was a bit on the slow side, but around the high tide at 6.00 pm, Stephen caught a 10 kg snapper, certainly a trophy size fish which is destined to go on the wall.

Heading out from St Leonards on Saturday evening, Kelly Richter and Shane Gordon were hoping to catch few whiting. They caught eight nice ones to 40 cm or so as it turned out.

With the weather holding on dark, they headed out into deeper water where they caught a 10 kg gummy shark at around 9.00 pm

At around 3.30 on Thursday afternoon, Jeff Richards and Steve Carr headed out onto the West Sand off St Leonards to catch the start of the flood tide. The whiting were a bit slow, but they still managed a catch 17, the largest measuring a very respectable 42 cm.

At the weekend, Steve Carr and his son Joey headed into 18 metres of water out wide from the Prince George Bank off Indented Head where they hoped to catch a snapper. Not in vain as it turned out for they returned with a red that turned the scales at 5.8 kg. This was after some concern about the integrity of their tackle after bringing in several scallops that had closed on their lines.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that clients did better than usual on whiting over the weekend, and while there were no bag limit catches, there were some good-size fish among them.

Rod also mentions that squid are still present in good numbers off Indented Head even though most are quite small.

Werribee River

With the scent of mulloway in the Werribee River, Daniel Abbott set out to try his luck from one of the jetties adjacent to the boat ramp.

Hoping to catch a mullet or two for bait, a feat which he accomplished using small pieces of pilchard for bait on light tackle, he caught a small mulloway barely over than the legal size of 60 cm which he released.

However, the surprise of the evening came when the light tackle he’d kept baited with small pieces of pilchard came up tight on a good fish that turned out to be a 38 cm snapper.

Some catch: Jack Hose with a good sample of albacore taken by he, Bob McPherson and Daniel Cumre. (Photo Bob McPherson).

Big alby: Daniel Bulkin with a 30 kg albacore that he took aboard Sharkman Charters out wide from Portland last week. (Photo Bob McPherson).

Freshwater

Marie Jopling of the Lake Purrumbete Caravan Park reports that the lake continues to fish well. Among those to do well on the weekend were Rob Ash and Rob Bailey of Geelong who took three brown trout from 1.6 to just over 2 kg trolling Rapala bibbed minnows in 3.6 metres of water.

Marie also reports there are some reasonable redfin on offer provided you can work your way through the smaller ones.

Marie also mentions that Chinook salmon releases are ongoing with up to 4000 going in from the time of writing. Similar numbers are due for release in nearby Lake Bullen Merri in an ongoing program that is intended to eventually supply 20,000 fish to each water,

Team effort: Jason Vyverbergs and two of his crew with his 95 kg bluefin. (Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

Brotherly bluefin: Kevin and Simon Agius with their 52 kg bluefin. (Photo Bob McPherson).

Down Portland way, Bob McPherson reports that bluefin tuna still maintain a strong presence with more big fish appearing on the scene over the weekend; the largest to date being a beauty of 131 kg taken by Alex Saisanas, Alex Matic and Mario Quadara on 24 kg tackle.

There were quite a few other bluefin caught as well with the most of the bigger fish being taken in the area known as “the horseshoe.”

Bob mentions that albacore have been a strong presence as well with most coming from the edge of the continental shelf in around 700 metres of water. The largest of these weighing in around the 30 kg mark.

PS: Submit Your Weekly Fishing Photo’s From Your Smart Phone or Computer Directly to me via Facebook message for a chance to be featured in next week’s report.Click on the link http://www.facebook.com/geoffwilsonfishing

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Good Friday catch: Aaron Wiesse and John Bushell with a sample of their snapper catch on Friday morning.

Easter reds: Alex Andkelkovic with nice snapper taken on Easter Saturday.

Corio Bay

With fresh fish an imperative for Good Friday, Daniel Stranger, John Bushell and Aaron Wiese were at anchor off Clifton Springs before very first light; a good move as it turned out because it wasn’t long before they boated their first snapper.

By the time the sun was above the horizon, the fish box was looking healthy with several snapper from pinkie size to 6 kg or more that were taken on squid and pilchards.

On Saturday morning, Alex Andjelkovic and Robert Pigdon headed out from Avalon in search of a flathead or two, something they achieved without too much trouble. Also included in their catch was a 5 kg snapper that took a pilchard.

Bellarine Peninsula

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that flathead and squid were the main catch over the Easter break.

The flathead have been a sure bet while fishing on the drift anywhere along the edge of the Prince George Bank, said Rod, and the squid have been widespread with a few good specimens among them.

Whiting have been scarce, said Rod, but those prepared to head out of an evening and fish into the dark have been taking respectable bags.

Fishing the ebb tide over the Swan Island grass beds on Friday were Murray Scott, his brother Stewart, nephew Nathan and Scott Teasdale. The whiting were patchy, but they still managed to catch 30 between them with a handful of their bigger fish measuring between 36 and 40 cm.

Fishing the flood tide off the Swan Island Grass beds on Sunday afternoon were Andrew Phillips, Chris Stamalos and Mark Sesar who took a dozen or so respectable whiting.

Also included in their catch were silver trevally, Australian salmon, mullet and Tommy rough which were plentiful enough to be a nuisance.

Barwon River estuary

Fishing the ebb tide into the late evening at the mouth of the Barwon estuary on Friday, Neale Walker took six whiting to 600 grams. Also included in Neale’s catch were two dozen or so assorted fish including silver trevally and pinkie snapper that were returned.

Freshwater

Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters put in several sessions casting his faithful Strike Pro Bob’n spoon from the bank of Wurdi Boluc Reservoir over Easter taking a good number of redfin, sometimes in the company of friends, and sometimes by himself. While many were a bit on the small side, Trevor took a dozen or more good ones, the biggest nudging the 2 kg mark.

Also fishing Wurdi Boluc on Friday morning were Simon Werner, his son Jayden 15, and friend Glenn Charles. They too did well on redfin taking three good size fish that they secured in their keeper net, which as it turned out, was probably not as secure as they would have liked because their biggest fish escaped.

Fishing Lake Bullen Merri over the Easter Break were Brad Andrews, niece Georgia 11, nephew Kayde 3, and friend Mark Fowkes. While they set no records, they did catch several rainbow trout, the biggest around 1.7 kg.

Young Kayde wasn’t to be left out either for with Brad taking a good grip of the lad, he managed to crank a rainbow trout of about a kilogram into the bank. Like the others it finished up on the BBQ.

Easter blues: Matt Williams and Matt Squires with their Portland bluefin tuna catch. (Photo Bob McPherson)

Hefty catch: Dave Camilleri and Joe Borg with a southern bluefin tuna from Portland (Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

Down Portland way Bob McPherson reports that with reasonable weather over Easter, a good many anglers headed offshore in search or bluefin tuna. Not in vain as it turned out for there was standing room only at the fish cleaning tables on occasion as anglers converted their catch into prime table fare.

Bob also mentions that land based anglers have been doing well on squid and whiting from the inshore section of the Lee Breakwater with early morning and evening, the most productive times.

Paul asks:

Geoff, why does the anti-reverse on eggbeater type reels have an on/off switch? It’s the first thing to break.

Paul, if there ever was a reason to have an on/off switch on the anti reverse of any fishing reel I have no idea what that could be. You don’t see it on bait-casters, game reels or overhead surf reels. And you are right; it is usually the first thing to break on the reel.

PS: Submit Your Weekly Fishing Photo’s From Your Smart Phone or Computer Directly to me via Facebook message for a chance to be featured in next week’s report.Click on the link http://www.facebook.com/geoffwilsonfishing

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Royal catch: Norman Ratajczak with a sample of his kingfish catch off Collendina at the weekend.

Offshore

Kingfish remain a strong presence off Collendina and Barwon Heads. Among those to get amongst the action over the weekend was Norman Ratajczak who caught several fish to 7 kg or so using both baits and deep water jigs aboard Ocean Grove Charters.

On safari: Tyler Hunt with his elephant fish from the Barwon estuary (Photo Jake Hoskin).

One of each: Nine year old Gaiji Koyama with part of last Tuesdays catch from the Limeburners Point boat ramp breakwater (Photo Seiya Koyama).

Barwon estuary

Fishing the Barwon estuary with light tackle, pipis and blue-bait over the weekend were Jake Hoskin and Tyler Hunt, but all they caught at the outset were small salmon and mullet.

However, a move upstream produced several silver trevally, and then Tyler hooked a good size elephant fish that stripped most of the line from his reel before he was able to bring it aboard.

Pocket bronzie: Bill Athanasslies with yet another juvenile bronze whaler from the Black Rock outfall site.

Black Rock

Fishing the old Black Rock outfall site last Wednesday was Bill Athanasslies who took advantage of the strong north easterly to put a small bonito out under a balloon.

With not much doing after a couple of hours, Bill wound in to check his bait to find just the head and tail remaining.

With another bait in the cooler, Bill put his line out once more to be rewarded with a small bronze whaler shark, not his first from here by any means, and almost certainly not his last.

Freshwater

Fishing the west side of Lake Wurdi Boluc on Friday evening were Trevor Holmes and Robert Clark who found themselves kept busy catching small redfin on their lures. However their persistence eventually paid off with several redfin around the 800 gram mark and one of 1.6 kg.

Fishing the same water on Sunday evening was Simon Werner who had much the same experience taking four redfin around the kilogram mark using soft plastics.

With low water levels in Lake Tooliorook and a good deal of exposed weed, few anglers have been successful of late. However, on Friday, Brad Andrews took his bag limit of five rainbow trout to 2.1 kg from the bank, something he has done regularly of late using Berkley Powerbait.

Asking Brad for advice for those wishing to emulate his success, he suggested that wearing waders was a good move because walking out waist deep permits casting into deeper and more productive water. In addition to that, Brad mentions that he has had most success during strong northerly winds of which we’ve had no shortage lately.

Brad also managed to fit in a trip to Lake Bullen Merri along with Bianca Messinger. They fished from the bank, using Berley Powerbait once more, for two more rainbow trout, each around the kilogram mark.

Eric Box of the Geelong and District Angler’s Club reports that over the weekend 16 members fished Lake Fyans for the perpetual trophy bearing his name, the resultant catch – which included 14 brown trout and two redfin for a total weight of 13.1 kg; the largest fish being a brown trout of 1.06 kg taken by Rudi Holzfeind – also put the club in a strong position to retain the Victorian Piscatorial Council’s interclub shield.

Western District

Doug Lucas of Colac reports that rough weather last Thursday proved catastrophic for the fish population in the lower Curdies at Peterborough.

With hundreds, if not thousands of bream and mullet littering the banks, Doug suggested that with very low water levels in the entrance lagoon, sediments were probably stirred up to such a degree that the fish were suffocated.

Werribee

With freshly pumped tubeworms, Daniel Abbott fished several locations in the estuary of the Werribee River on Wednesday morning, two of which; “the farmer’s gate” and “the pines” produced a bag limit catch of bream to 38 cm.

Hefty catch: Dave Conway, Lockie, Alan and Steve Carew, and skipper Simon Rinaldi with last Wednesday’s 84 kg tuna (Photo Bob McPherson).

Portland

Last Wednesday, Simon Rinaldi of Red Hot Fishing Charters, along with clients Dave Conway, Lockie, Alan and Steve Carew, found a good patch of bluefin tuna off Portland where their catch included one that weighed 84 kg.

While others also took good catches of bluefin tuna up until then, the weather since has kept most offshore enthusiasts on dry land.

Frank asks:

Frank, I did contact the landholder on your behalf. He told me that the lake was currently closed to fishing but that he intends to re-open it to fishing later in the year along with houseboat accommodation.

PS: Submit Your Weekly Fishing Photo’s From Your Smart Phone or Computer Directly to me via Facebook message for a chance to be featured in next week’s report.Click on the link http://www.facebook.com/geoffwilsonfishing

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Big red: Ryan McSeveny with one of two early morning snapper off Portarlington on Tuesday.

Bellarine Peninsula

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid are still a good chance anywhere from the Governor Reef to Grassy Point with some clients bringing in bag limit catches.

On Saturday Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley caught several squid at Indented Head before heading around to the mouth of Swan Bay for the start of the afternoon flood, but they’d only caught three whiting when the weather turned sour sending them back to the ramp.

An early start on Tuesday morning paid off for soft plastics enthusiasts Aaron Dillon and Ryan McSeveny who were on the job in 12 metres of water off Portarlington by first light casting 5” jerk shads rigged with 3/8 ounce jig heads on light tackle.

As it turned out they caught two big snapper of eight and 9 kg respectively which were destined to feed a good many folk in the caravan park, and of which Aaron sent in several photos.

Port Phillip Heads

Last Tuesday evening Bill Athanasslies cast a line from the Point Lonsdale Pier, along with a good many others but there wasn’t much doing; not early in the night anyway.

However, as the incoming tide picked up during the early hours of Wednesday morning, Australian salmon around the kilogram mark came on the bite and almost everybody that was fishing from the pier, including Bill, took multiple catches, some counted in the dozens.

Corio Bay

Early Saturday morning, Andrew Phillips, Chris Stamalos and Mark Sesar fished Point Lillias where, using chicken and mussel for bait, they took a substantial mixed bag of King George whiting, pinkie snapper, salmon and garfish.

Freshwater

Doug Lucas of Colac reports that both Camperdown’s crater lakes have been productive and that on Tuesday evening, Peter Williamson caught three brown trout from Purrumbete, including one of 3.2 kg on a pink cobra pattern lure down-rigged to 15 metres.

On Wednesday Damian McFarlane fished from the bank of Lake Bullen Merri with Berkley Powerbait taking four rainbow trout, all around the 1.2 kg mark.

Last week Daniel Stranger and several companions fished Lake Mulwala in NSW where they caught 13 Murray Cod, three of them keepers to 65 cm.

These were taken on Oar Gee bibbed minnows during the day and on surface poppers at night.

Offshore

On Wednesday, Simon Werner and Terry Begg fished offshore from Barwon Heads in 40 metres of water where they caught several kingfish including three keepers to 68 cm that came up their berley trail.

Kingfish have also been present in good numbers offshore from Collendina.

Musical catch: Tim Clark with one of the Tassie trumpeter off Portland.

Portland

Despite the inclement weather on Saturday, Bob McPherson took a run out into 100 metres of water where he had little trouble taking his bag limit catch of bluefin tuna to 26 kg or so.

Picking a gap in the weather, a trip out from Portland paid dividends for Tim Clark, Trevor Wilson, Cameron Ordner and Shane Cromie whose first order of business was to run a few lures out the back for bluefin tuna.

With their rods loaded and several ‘fin in the bin, they went for a change of pace dropping lines to the bottom in 140 metres of water baited with some of their bluefin catch. Another successful episode as it turned out for within an hour they’d caught five Tasmanian trumpeter from 6 to 11.6 kg.

Public meetings

Friends of Corio Bay Action Group will hold another public meeting on Sunday (24/03/13). Venue is Denis More’s property on the Portarlington Road, 800 metres east of Clifton Avenue, Moolap (Melway ref 454 F8). A BBQ will be provided for which a donation would be appreciated.

Coincidentally, VRFish is holding a policy workshop on Saturday 23/03/13 at Torquay, followed by a members meeting on Sunday 24/03/13. Both will be held at Torquay and which the public may attend. However, registration is required in respect of catering and venue information through the VRFish office on 03 9686 7077 or email info@vrfish.com.au

Gordon asks:

“VRFish wants the buyout of all commercial netting licenses in Port Phillip Bay including Corio Bay and the lower Yarra River. Commercial netting of Corio Bay is inappropriate given the high effectiveness of netting in this shallow fish development area and that many recreational fishers are seeking a netting buyout for Corio Bay.” http://vrfish.com.au/wp-content/uploads/policy-directions-final.pdf

PS: Submit Your Weekly Fishing Photo’s From Your Smart Phone or Computer Directly to me via Facebook message for a chance to be featured in next week’s report.Click on the link http://www.facebook.com/geoffwilsonfishing

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