Soft plastics are picking up plenty of pinkies

GEELONG Neil Slater slaterfish@gmail.com

Less rain in the region has meant clearer water for lure casters. The Barwon in Geelong has seen the 2018 release of estuary perch exceed 25cm, with a few over 28cm in length. This retrieved slowly near the bottom. Bait fishos know these fish love a big scrub worm too, so we should see a few nudging 30cm as the year progresses.

My neighbour Hugh Hanson has been harassing the reddies at Wurdee Buloc near Moriac and Stoney Creek Reservoir near Ballan. Hugh has caught enough for

Point Wilson to Cunningham Pier to Rippleside and North Shore, and have no itinerary so can show up anywhere, anytime. Some days they’ll be smashing baitfish on the surface, while at other times they are holding deep. It pays to check the bait balls on the bottom when you spot them in deep water.

Australian salmon will scoff just about any lure, from soft plastics to jigs to divers to metal slices. If you really want fun, tie on a surface lure.

Bellarine Pirates took out the comp with a 1160g blue-spot flattie he caught using soft plastics in the shallows near St Leonards.

Most fish have been around the 40-50cm mark but a pile of fun on spin gear.

Leopold Angling and Aquatic Club held an intra club ‘Flathead Challenge’ with Western Beach Angling Club, Bellarine Pirates and St Leonards Angling Club recently. Ben Scullin from

The lads at Trelly’s Tackle have reported some good schools of snapper to 5kg in the 8m mark out off Clifton Springs. Those anglers getting stuck into them have sounded around first to find the schools, and sent down plastics or fresh baits such as squid and pilchards.

Chris from Drysdale Bait and Tackle reports the garfish have been in plague proportions off Clifton Springs, with clouds of them showing up in berley trails. If you want to catch some gars, your best bet is to fish is a great growth rate for a prized native sportfish, and a credit to those in VFA and others involved for seizing the opportunity and organising the stocking.

Kelvin Baldwin has caught plenty of estuary perch out of the Barwon in Geelong, and swears by a lime green single-tailed grub a feed a few times, but no real solid fish yet. However, May does bring better fish as we head towards winter, so get amongst it.

Australian salmon schools have been cruising Corio Bay harassing baitfish like a pack of delinquents, picking fights with anyone. They have been spotted from with a float with a pin-sharp size 12 long shank hook. The prime baits are pilchard bits, squid or other tasty morsels. Toss some berley about and you’ll be in with a shot. Gars are epic on the plate and are even better as snapper bait, so pack the berley and floats, and get amongst them!

Mick Lane has been catching a few pinkie snapper to 35cm fishing from Mackey St and Limeburners rock walls. Mick has been using fresh squid as bait for his latest captures.

Bill Hartshorne took his 4-year-old son Henry out in the bay for his first ever fishing trip. They fished the run-out tide on the spoil grounds in front of Leopold with Berkley 4” Turtleback worms in camo. It didn’t take long for the boys to land some quality flathead and pinkies, with one pinkie nudging 50cm, resulting in much excitement from Henry!

Davie Le recently took his little sister Amy out, and they managed a decent pinkie using soft plastic lures. David says the local fishing really heats up starting from now to late June, with species like Australian salmon in abundance due to baitfish moving into our bays. Fishing any type of lure will do the trick when they are on top of the water.

David says if salmon are on the bottom, you can’t beat a jighead around 1/8-1/4oz, and any soft plastic you like. When they are busting up, you can catch them both from the surface and sub-surface.

Pike are still a plague, and any Daiwa Double Cutch from 75-95mm will work on them. The fish have been on the smaller side though.

St Leonards to Queenscliff has seen a solid run of King George whiting, with a few bag-outs and some solid fish from 35-40cm coming over the side. They seem to bite best when the tide is running hardest, so you’ll need a decent sinker around 2oz to hold bottom, and a long leader around 1m to increase the captures.

Queenscliff has been hot lately, with stacks of silver trevally, yakkas (yellowtailed scad), salmon and calamari around the harbour.

Small baits and lures have been picking up the yakkas and trevally, while salmon have pretty much been a by-catch. Calamari like the areas in the Queenscliff harbour without too much flow, so pick a few sheltered areas to try for them.

There have been plenty of gummy sharks down along the Surf Coast – I know, that’s no news flash –they’re always there! Kevin Mcloughlin headed down to

Anglesea with his brother Jeremy in search of a few fish. Armed with something a little different – light K-Mart blister pack rods!

To make sure of their success, the lads had two rods each – just for a laugh. The first few baits down they got blue-throat wrasse and yakkas. However, soon after they had a double hook-ups on gummy and seven-gill sharks, with Jeza getting a nice 14kg gummy on the budget rod. Jeza managed another 8kg gummy, and sadly lost one over the side when the drag locked up. If you’re up for some comedy, check out their YouTube channel ‘Surfcoast Anglers’. Classic stuff lads!

The tuna bite has been red-hot over the last 12 months. The action continued along the Surf Coast for all of March and into April, with anglers locking horns with tuna from 10-25kg. Casting poppers and stickbaits has been effective, or you can troll skirts or divers, with or without teasers. King brown, green and pink colours have been getting plenty of fish on the troll, while natural looking baits have worked best for those casting at schools.

Until next month, fish hard – die happy!

• Catch a few around Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula or Surf Coast to Lorne recently? Send in a report to slaterfish@gmail. com with ‘FMG’ in the subject field or give me a call on 0408 997348. Please include where (without giving away your secret spot!), when, what on and who caught the fish. Pictures are always great, but please make sure they are at least 1MB (file size).