VIC
Intrepid anglers have braved the bluster COBDEN
Rod Shepherd
I must say that it’s been rather hard to gather any solid fishing info, due to COVID. Not helping the situation is the blustery and very wet, early spring weather which makes it hard to muster up the courage to get out there and wet a line. However, a few intrepid anglers have hit the water, and I’m glad to be able to pass some piscatorial info on to you. The Hopkins River has seen a few solid bream taken in the ski run on bait such as worm, prawn and whitebait. Static fishing the shallows adjacent to the channel has shown the best results. The bream should be further upstream around Kinnear’s hut and beyond on their annual spawning run, however the sheer influx of dirty water pushing downstream has kept the majority of fish further down in the system. Reports of mulloway taking bream baits on bream gear have also surfaced, with a few boaters being busted off by so-called
unstoppables. The Curdies estuary has been great for bream and perch, with both the lake and river firing. The top of the tide has been good in the lake, and working the line where dirty water
meets the salt has been best. The lower reaches of the river has been hot at times, but fishing at depth is the key. In winter with a solid flow the bottom holds cleaner water. Working the bottom in 3m+ depth just
off the bank, near weed growth, has seen some good captures. Metal blades in black or dark colours just hopped off the bottom are working well for many, as they often do at this time of year.
I’ve once again done well trolling deep diving Legend minnows in green near the river mouth as these (long since unavailable) lures seem to do the trick on deep holding bream. The action,
Another post winter and flood deep holding bream taken on a classic diver, the Legend.
and possibly colour has worked here for me for many, many years. Those who have managed to launch offshore have reported an influx of pinkie snapper to 38cm being taken on reefs from 10-20m depth. These anglers have been doing very well for pink ling in the same areas and have just started to pull in a few red beasts in recent weeks. Bottom bouncing squid baits has done the job, along with added berley sent down deep to be dispersed via a berley bucket or cage. Blustery conditions have kept most of us grounded, but some good news is that schools of salmon have begun to move close inshore en masse. They can be now caught just outside the breakers along most of our beaches. Squid baits fished on double paternoster rigs along with added berley have seen some sizeable fish hooked and landed. The average fish size is around 600g, but a few solid fish around 2kg have also been dragged up onto the beach.
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