Geelong

Enjoying the thaw

GEELONG Neil Slater

slaterfish@gmail.com Apart from more than a few cold, rainy, blustery days, the fishing has been pretty good.

It’s been a cold few months, but September always shows a glimmer of hope as things begin to defrost. We can expect to see the odd snapper report from Corio Bay, gummies and school sharks along the Surf before slightly moving it to induce a strike.

Australian salmon have been a real stand out, with good numbers of fish from the low 30s to around 50cm caught by anglers fishing from Limeburners rock walls to Cunningham pier. These fish can easily be spotted when ripping into baitfish on the surface of the water. If they’re not showing themselves, fishing lures deep and slow can locate a school. On dead calm days, sometimes the only thing floats with just about any bait underneath will do the trick after a short wait – hopefully!

Calamari have remained fairly consistent over the cooler months, with Clifton Springs to Queenscliff all producing a few in depths of 2.5-6m. Pack yourself a wide variety of colours, sink rates and sizes to hedge your bets, and you should find a few.

Whiting had a good go throughout June around Clifton Springs, but tapered somewhat in July. Fair numbers have been caught over the Prince George Bank off St Leonards and down around Swan Bay by anglers using pipis and squid, but not with any real consistency. I’d expect the whiting bite to improve over September, especially around St Leonards and Clifton Springs.

September can see an influx of big calamari around the Lonsdale Bight and Swan Bay. Some of these can approach 3kg so be prepared for a bit of chaos and ink spurting when hauling these in, if they show up. Skewerstyle jigs will out-fish regular artificial jigs here when the big dogs are around. You can bait the skewers with tommy rough, garfish, silver whiting, yakkas or small legal salmon. Pilchards will do in a pinch, but they do fall apart easily.

Speaking of yakkas (yellow-tailed scad), they have made a fairly consistent appearance out off Bellarine Peninsula this year. They have mainly been a by-catch for whiting fishers but are dynamite bait for just about anything bigger – squid included.

Silver trevally to 42cm have been biting well inside Queenscliff harbour on motor oil colour soft plastics and pilchard fillets.

At the time of writing, the Queenscliff boat ramp upgrade was nearing its final stages, with the new floating pontoon and concrete ramp in place, plus extra-large car parking spaces for big boats and tow vehicles. Portarlington boat ramp upgrade was well into stage two, with the construction of a groyne and an excavator platform on the end to assist with dredging if it became silted up. Both ramps were aiming to be reopened around September so here’s hoping. For more info, head to www. betterboating.vic.gov.au.

Kane Reardon from Reef Thief has been getting stuck into some big whiting at the southern end of Port Phillip Bay. Kane and his mates have had the odd bag limit capture, including a few up around the 50cm mark. The thieves have also been getting plenty of gummy sharks out off Barwon Heads, and when the weather hasn’t allowed it, Kane and Kaiden Long have been getting some solid silver trevally in the Barwon estuary using soft plastic lures.

The Barwon River estuary has been a bit of a saviour with the weather being a bit sketchy to get offshore. Some solid silver trevally and salmon up around 40cm have been caught as the tide runs in, and further upstream has seen a few small bream around 30cm caught on bass yabbies up near Sheepwash after dark. The salmon and trevally have been caught on lures and soft baits such as pipis and chicken.

Those keen on mulloway should give the days prior to the new and full moon a go in the Barwon estuary in September. There are reasonable tides at those moon phases this month.

The Surf Coast continues to produce quality salmon for anglers fishing from the beach and rock platforms. somewhat. There have been good numbers of snapper, flathead, gummy and school sharks with the odd King George whiting being landed. Keith said the pier has been fishing well, with one of the best winter runs of silver trevally for years. Apart from silvers from the pier, anglers have enjoyed good captures of salmon, calamari, grass whiting and mullet.

Those keen to kick

Kane with a stack of whiting he and a few mates caught in the southern end of Port Phillip Bay.

Coast. We can also expect the trout and reddies at Wurdee Buloc near Moriac and Stoney Creek reservoir out past Anakie to fire up as the warmer days bring a few bugs out.

I had a go with Hugh Hanson out at Wurdee recently. Fishing with soft plastics at gentlemen’s hours, Hugh was the only one of us to land one and lose one. Both were small reddies on white soft plastics with a 1/8oz jighead. I tossed the whole tackle box at them for nada.

Michael Crawford had a day out at Stoney Creek Reservoir recently. Using Z-Man 3” Slim SwimZ midnight oil on a 6g, no. 2 hook, Michael got a few redfin around 30cm. Moving on to a different spot, he then found a school of real footballs that measured in at 43-46cm. Michael said they were full of roe, and some had recently eaten yabbies around 15cm long! Michael said he was letting the soft plastic rest on the bottom giving them away is a ripple on the surface as the school moves along. If you’re land-based in Geelong and chasing a salmon, try raw chicken or pilchard fillet on the bottom, or ping lures about. It’s great fun.

Wangim Walk gives you a pretty good shot at salmon as they cut a lap of the waterfront, but lately, anglers have been catching a few pinkie snapper to 35cm.

Paul Mayer has been out on the water and has found a few salmon and tailor schools lately. Paul said the tailor bite only lasted a few minutes but he managed to catch 12 up around 45cm. Paul also caught a beast of a bream around 46cm first cast on a Munroes Swarf paddletail soft plastic. Then he caught nothing for an hour after that!

Garfish have been fairly busy inside Corio Bay, with Cunningham and Limeburners rock wall producing plenty when the weather has allowed it. A bit of berley and small Lorne has been the stand out, with salmon up to 3kg being caught by boat and land-based anglers.

Mick Allardyce reports there have been some quality flathead in 36m off the Surf Coast, and has had reports of good numbers of pinkie snapper on the inshore reefs off Aireys Inlet. Mick reckons the beaches have been a bit hit-and-miss with salmon, but a few builders he knows have seen big schools out wider while they’ve been working on the Surf Coast; Mick has scouts everywhere.

The Commodore of the Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club, Keith Miller, reports the club’s winter competition was curtailed by the weather but a few tough fishers hit the pier and caught a few. The big salmon are still about but have thinned off snapper season should target a tide change inside Corio Bay with fresh squid, pilchards or silver whiting. Dawn and dusk have always been good times, but as long as you’re on the water, you’re in with a chance. Watch out for big ships and remember that you can’t anchor in the channel, but you can still flick a few baits around there!

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).

Kane from Reef Thief with an example of the gummy sharks available offshore at the moment.

Paul boated this beast of a bream using a Munroe’s soft plastic.

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