Geelong

Time to reap the rewards

GEELONG Neil Slater

slaterfish@gmail.com What an exciting time to be alive! The artificial reefs installed around Corio Bay are producing snapper, the pumped when he caught a solid flathead from Griffins Gully jetty recently.

Kim Barnes decided to go for a quick fish off the rock wall at Portarlington before her click and collect the groceries were ready. With only an hour before

Deborah with a salmon she caught from Point Roadknight Beach.

region is seeing fantastic captures of whiting and there are massive tuna offshore!

Baitfish are thick inside Corio Bay and predators have been hot on their tails. There have been plenty of pike and salmon ripping into them so keep an eye out for birds diving on the leftover bait. Ping a lure into the commotion if you can get close enough and odds on you’ll have a hook up. Salmon have shown up along the Geelong waterfront, Limeburners and Point Henry to Clifton Springs. If you’re tolling for them, remember not to troll straight through the school or you’ll scare them off. This time of year you can also expect salmon of Barwon Heads and in the Rip.

Land-based fishos have done well landing snapper, salmon, flathead and trevally from various piers and rock walls around the region.

St Helens Rock wall had artificial reefs installed just offshore around 2017 by VFA and we’ve seen plenty of good sized snapper either side of 4kg caught by landbased anglers here.

Adam Wilde says his 8yo son Ari has really taken to fishing and was super one of her reels let out a squeal. She fought the fish with no torch, climbing up and down the rock wall and still managed to land a 4.2kg, 68cm snapper.

Corio Bay inner harbour has seen a spike in snapper either side of 40cm. These fish are prime targets for soft plastic fishos and have been caught close to jetty pylons so you need to be ready to fight back or they’ll get you into the timber.

Collan and Malcolm Erard fished one of their favourite spots on the channel near Point Henry for snapper recently. Using pilchard and squid for bait, it wasn’t long before they were into a nice fish around the 1kg mark.

I’ve had a few goes out off Curlewis with my 13yo son Max and caught some good numbers of whiting to 38cm. They were taking just about any bait including last season’s old yellow squid I found at the back of the freezer. These fish were all caught in 4-4.5m but they have also been caught in 6m of water off Leopold and some 40cm models have shown

pick up, she grabbed a couple of rods, bait, and a landing net but forgot a torch.

Kim was about to leave to grab the groceries when Col and Mal with a few of Corio Bay’s finest. Aaron Habgood helped christen Patrick Dangerfield’s new boat with a 135kg tuna.

up in Stingaree Bay near Limeburners ramp. Best bet is to cast your bait into the clear patches of sand. Small wrasse live in the weeded areas and destroy your bait in seconds if it lands in the weed.

Calamari were cruising the 2m line at Clifton Springs but I struggled to find them later in the month. I did stumble on a few in 6m of water using size 3.0 jigs.

St Leonards and Indented Head have also been producing whiting either side of 40cm and fair numbers of calamari. Larger whiting over 45cm and calamari have been biting in and around Queenscliff while the harbour has been producing pinkie snapper and silver trevally to 40cm for soft plastic enthusiasts. The tide really races through here so best bet is to fish when the tide stops running.

Deborah and Kelvin Johnson from Echuca visited Anglesea recently. They fished from the beach at Point Roadknight where Kelvin caught a decent flathead and Deborah managed a salmon using chicken for bait.

The Barwon River in Barwon heads has been producing trevally and salmon on the incoming tide on both raw chicken and soft plastic lures. Most fish have been under 40cm but still great fun.

All that fishing is great but the talk of the town has been the incredible tuna fishery developing in Bass

Strait. I guess we’ll never know when they’ll turn up but some whopping tuna have shown up and been lure in pilchard colour. Peri’s big tuna weighed in at 125kg.

Chris Cassar of Cassar

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Ari is enjoying the fishing around Corio Bay.

caught by lucky anglers fishing around the Rip and Barwon Heads. Peri Stavropoulos from Trellys Tackle in Geelong caught a ripper in 65m south of the Rip trolling an 8” skirted Fishing Charters caught a beast in 50m of water out off Barwon Heads using an Ali’i Kai fish head lure in pink and purple. Chris’s big tuna weighed in at 141.5kg and 2100mm fork length!

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Aaron Habgood jumped on Patrick Dangerfield’s new boat with Patrick and Nigel Lappin. Aaron says the sea was alive with whales, dolphins and plenty of bait. Trolling near the bait, they hooked up but lost a solid fish. The lures were sent out again and they didn’t have to wait too long for a second hook up. They fought the fish for around 40-50 minutes and it was very erratic at times. The fish was fought to the surface where they were able to get along side it for

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Visiting from Echuca, Kelvin caught this nice flathead at Point Roadknight. Chris with 141kg of Bass Strait tuna.

a gaff shot. The fish took an 8” Evil Angel on the long corner and weighed 135kg bled. Aaron says the fish has been enjoyed by all the Cats team mates and our families. 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).

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