Geelong

The lowdown during lockdown

GEELONG Neil Slater

slaterfish@gmail.com Lockdowns have hampered the fishing once again but a few anglers who have some water within 5km (or managed a fish between lockdowns) have a bit to show. snapper pushing into the Surf Coast and the bays around Gelong and the Bellarine Peninsula.

The reefs in Bass Strait always hold quality snapper this time of year. The deeper areas from 25-35m hold less but larger fish, which have nudged 9kg in the past, while the shallower reef areas around 5-10m, hold

Gabriella has caught a few solid flathead out of Clifton Springs. William with his first Lorne Pier gummy.

Nathan and his son Ryder managed to withdraw this solid bream from the pylons.

The Barwon River in Geelong has remained dirty due to the rains, which makes lure fishing difficult. Small redfin and estuary perch have been biting in the Geelong section of the Barwon River on baits such as worms. Estuary perch have been stocked in the Barwon by VFA since 2018. Those that have shown up in recent captures are of at least two separate year classes (sizes), which is a great sign that they are doing well.

Wurdee Buloc Reservoir near Moriac has risen 20% since June and at the time of writing, was nudging 90%. We haven’t seen it this full for a while, so expect some big trout to be poking about the shallows on that southern shore. Mudeye under a float fished from the east wall is a real killer here for big trout first and last light so as long as you’ve got a light easterly breeze to take your bait out or no wind, this is the number one possie for big trout near Geelong and the Surf Coast this October.

This month is pretty much peak hour for the region with the red tide of more snapper but they tend to average smaller sizes. First and last light is by far the best for the shallower areas but you can pick up decent snapper fishing the deeper areas during the day.

The southern half of Port Philip is subjected to strong currents making fishing deep for snapper difficult. Wider areas off St Leonards and Indented Head do offer less current but the snapper here tend to be scattered. Portarlington and Clifton Springs are popular launching places to head into snapper season as they offer access to the shipping channel and some quality snapper around this time of year.

Soft plastics enthusiasts should hit up the Geelong waterfront, Point Henry and the Curlewis Bank in depths of four to seven meters. Drift your plastic slowly and close to the bottom for best results. Land based anglers should try St Helens rock wall, Cunningham Pier and both St Leonards and Portarlington piers are well known snapper producers after dark.

Rod Ludlow from Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head says it has been the windiest winter he has had. Rod says between lock downs and wind he has been pretty quiet. Those hire boats that have been out have caught plenty of flathead straight out off Indented Head drifting in about 14m of water using bluebait and squid. Rod suggests the flood tide has been slightly better.

Rod reports that the squid and whiting have been hard to find but expects things to improve dramatically very soon.

There seems to be some solid numbers of flathead around Geelong and the Bellarine with 50cm fish becoming more common over the last few years. Clifton Springs to St Leonards appears to be the best with the most consistent captures in the deeper water over five or six meters.

Gabriella Costa has been doing well catching a few flathead to 49cm out off Clifton Springs drifting and using salted pilchards.

Corio Bay has seen a few nice bream caught by anglers fishing soft plastic lures around the pier pylons.

Nathan Wright fished with his son Ryder and managed to pull a beauty out of his snag using soft plastic lures and Blake West had caught some rippers to 45cm using the same method.

Wangim Walk on Geelong waterfront has seen plenty of small salmon and pinkie snapper kicking about with both bait and lures working well. BOAT RAMP UPGRADES

Stage one of the Queenscliff Boat ramp upgrade was completed on time and the ramp was opened for use at the end of August. The works included dredging of the ramp and remodelling of the car park plus sealing of an overflow carpark, which was previously a vacant dirt block.

Stage two will run from March to May 2022 and will include the installation of a

third boat ramp.

Stage one of the Point Richards boat ramp car park upgrade has also completed on time. The upgrade included the addition of 50 extra car and boat parking spaces increasing its capacity to 83 parks for car and boats plus 14 new single car spaces. Stage two includes an overlapping rock groyne to be constructed early 2022 to help stop the masses of seagrass that gets dumped on the ramp rendering it unusable. For more information, head over to betterboating.vic.gov.au/ boat-ramp-upgrades/

October often sees an increase in both school and gummy sharks along the surf coast. Draft board or swell sharks are also thick and more of a pest than anything else.

Lorne has seen a few good flathead and pinkie snapper caught by anglers drifting using fish baits such as pilchards.

William Ferguson and his dad have spent many hours hoping for gummy sharps off the Lorne Pier without much luck. Another assault saw the father son team get to the pier in time for the change of tide and flicked out a big squid bait. William says it was slow going at first as the pesky swell sharks were taking just about all the baits. William had a much better bite which transmitted some good head shakes up the line while swimming sideways before he saw a big port Jackson shark about 1.2m long revealed itself.

The next bite, the surf rod started going nuts and William says the fight felt the same as the port Jackson. That was until the line screamed off! After a torrid tussle, William’s dad dropped a gaff over the edge and pull his prize capture up. This was William and his dad’s first gummy off the Lorne pier after countless hours spent fishing there. 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 997 348. 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).