Attractive options for freshwater anglers in June

WARRNAMBOOL Mark

Gercovich

mgercovich@hotmail.com

The beginning of winter may seem like depressing time in the far south coast, but there are plenty of exciting fishing options available, from big tuna out to sea, to quality trout in our rivers.

On the tuna front, the focus of the barrel fishing has moved from Portland to Pt Mac in recent weeks. However, with the sheer number of these

There have been good numbers of school fish off Port Fairy and Warrnambool lately, and these will continue to be an option throughout June if the weather holds.

If tuna aren’t your thing, there has been some excellent bottom fishing happening. Dan Hoey from Salty Dog charters has been producing some excellent mixed bags of shark and finfish like snapper, morwong, and nannygai. Out further towards the shelf, local anglers have been taking trumpeter, pink the WDAC Easter fishing competition. Plenty of kilo plus fish were brought in, with the largest catchand-release bream being a 1.546kg behemoth taken by Ray Dorman. To even get into the top ten in the junior section you needed a fish over 830g.

With good schools of small baitfish present, many fish are being taken fishing lures to the edge, or glassies or other small fish baits on the bottom. The mouth is still open, and plenty of blue water is coming in on the tide.

Winter

big fish present along the coast this season, you could have them turn up anywhere, so have the big gear with you and keep an eye out on any long sea journey this winter.

ling and blue-eye when the conditions have allowed.

The Hopkins River has been fishing very well for bream recently. This was evidenced by some of the excellent fish taken during

There still has been no sign of any mulloway catches despite seemingly perfect conditions for them.

In the freshwater, estuary perch have been responding to topwater lures, with fish over 40cm being encountered. These bigger perch will start to move downstream as we head into winter, and can be taken on vibes and heavily weighted plastics as they begin to school up in the estuary section.

I haven’t heard of any big runs of salmon at Killarney Beach yet, but it’s a location that is always worth a look at this time of year on a nice winter’s day when the wind is from the north. Wandering along towards the east from the boat ramp, throwing metal slice lures, is the best way to locate any schools present in the area.

Winter Trout

Trout fishing is also popular locally at this time of year, with the Hopkins, Merri and Moyne rivers and Mt Emu Creek remaining open during the traditional closed season. This means most of the prime local trout waterways are fishable all winter. It allows anglers to target the trout in what is the most productive time to fish these waters; the higher water levels and cooler water temperatures are perfect for trout fishing.

Also, all these South West coastal rivers are reliant on annual fish stocking, with research showing very little if any natural recruitment. This reduces the need to ‘lock up’ the rivers to protect spawning fish at the best time to be fishing them.

With all the snakes in hibernation, it’s safer and more pleasurable to make those long treks along the rivers without the constant dread of stepping on a ‘wiggle stick’.

If you encounter one of the many dreaded carp present in the river, please don’t release them. Instead, dispose of them away from the water’s edge.